Grossman stresses business-building skills in Lowell appearance

LOWELL -- Calling himself the best choice for the tough economy, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Grossman touted his fiscal management and job-creation skills in an interview with The Sun editorial board on Wednesday.

He stressed his experience running and growing his family business, Grossman Marketing Group, and how he kept his campaign promises as state treasurer, including making most of state expense records accessible by the public online.

"(Voters may say,) 'If he did keep his promises as a state treasurer, he as governor should be able to build a strong, vibrant future," Grossman said.

Grossman pledged to invest in education and modernizing the transportation system as governor and try to control health care cost, as well. With steady supply of trained workforce and access to capital among other factors that are important to business growth, Massachusetts can have 50,000 new manufacturing jobs created over the next five years, Grossman said. He is particularly interested in providing funding for private programs on condition that they deliver certain results.

"I'm a big believer in performance metrics," Grossman said.

Grossman, who is trailing behind his primary opponent, Martha Coakley, in polls -- by as much as 34 points in the recent Boston Globe poll -- said he needs more name recognition.

He will gain more ground once voters become more aware of his record, said Grossman, who has just launched a TV ad that casts the primary race as a match between Coakley, the "career prosecutor," versus Grossman, the "job creator."

Contrary to what Coakley claims, she has not worked to grow the economy because that's not what the attorney general does, Grossman said.

Welcome to your discussion forum: Click the login link below to sign in with or to set up a Disqus account or to access your social networking account. When you do, your comment should be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (What are the guidelines?.) Report abuse by flagging a comment (mouse over the comment). Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Berkshire Eagle. So keep it civil.